Belief in Conspiracy Theories

Trump's biggest foray into politics before his election as president came as part of a baseless conspiracy that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and was therefore ineligible to be president. As Trump continued to press the issue for years, he lied about a variety of things and made statements like this: "I have people that have been studying [Obama's birth certificate] and they cannot believe what they're finding ... I would like to have him show his birth certificate, and can I be honest with you, I hope he can. Because if he can't, if he can't, if he wasn't born in this country, which is a real possibility ... then he has pulled one of the great cons in the history of politics." (NBC)

There is no basis in fact for this conspiracy claim. When he finally admitted this was the case, he then falsely claimed that Hillary Clinton's campaign started the rumor.

Meanwhile, his nominee for National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, is also susceptible to belief in conspiracies. Flynn believes Islamic law, known as Shariah, is spreading in the United States. This is not true. Such assertions by Flynn became common enough that his subordinates at the Defense Intelligence Agency called them "Flynn facts." (Source: The New York Times)

Flynn's son, who served as his chief of staff and also had contact during the campaign with Trump, also buys into and spreads conspiracy theories. His Twitter and Facebook accounts have contained conspiracies and racially insensitive statements. One theory he pushed was that Trump's opponent Marco Rubio, a Florida senator, was gay and abused cocaine. (CNN) He also pushed the false conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton was part of a pedophilia ring running out of a Washington, D.C. pizzeria, which lead an armed vigilante to show up with an assault rifle. Flynn's son resigned from Trump's transition team shortly before he was fired for being a distraction. (CBS)

Timeline

Steve Bannon's website shows a picture someone took along the Arizona border of a discarded jacket, claiming it's an Islamic prayer rug and that it's proof that Terrorists are sneaking into the United States through the Mexican boarder.gawker.com(See also Steve Bannon)

Trump refuses to say whether or not be believes 79 year old U.S Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia who died of natural causes was murdered by President Obama but says he found the death, “pretty unusual”.rightwingwatch.org

Stephen Miller retweets claim that Hillary Clinton is involved in child sex trafficking from former K.K.K leader David Duke.littlegreenfootballs.com

2017.02.19

Trump personally invites conspiracy radio host who has claimed Obama was attempting to use Ebola to commit white genocide and who has called for 100 million Muslims to be killed to the Mar-a-Lago for a Presidents Day party.twitter.com(See also First 100 Days, Muslims)

Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, appeared in a video promoting the end of net neutrality regulations with a woman who has been accused of pushing the false "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory.buzzfeed.com(See also Assaults on Civil Liberties, False Statements)

Objectively speaking, it's a terrible video.

2017.12.21

On the orders of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Justice Department prosecutors have begun asking FBI agents to explain the evidence they found in a now dormant criminal investigation into a controversial uranium deal that critics have linked to Bill and Hillary Clinton.nbcnews.com(See also Jeff Sessions, Fascism, Department of Justice)

Donald Trump continues to tell his associates he believes the highly controversial Republican memo alleging the FBI abused its surveillance tools could help discredit the Russia investigation.cnn.com(See also False Statements, Corruption)

Donald Trump enthusiastically embraced a National Rifle Association position to arm highly trained teachers to fortify schools against mass shootings like the one last week, and said the armed teachers should receive extra pay as an incentive, promoted his idea as demands for stronger gun control intensified across the country.nytimes.com(See also Education)

“You give them a little bit of a bonus, so practically for free, you have now made the school into a hardened target,” Mr. Trump said. The president estimated that 10 percent to 40 percent of school employees would be qualified to handle a weapon — he offered no data for the claim — and said he would devote federal money to training them.

Analysis

What makes people believe in conspiracy theories? They flare up during times of uncertainty and fear, experts say. Terrorist strikes, financial crises, high-profile deaths, and natural disasters can trigger people's desire for control. Trying to make sense of things "leads them to connect dots that aren’t necessarily connected in reality,” according to Jan-Willem van Prooijen, associate professor in social and organizational psychology at VU University Amsterdam, who has studied the phenomenon for years.